Document stacking device



June 16, 1964 MAIDMENT 3,137,499

DOCUMENT STACKING DEVICE Filed Nov. 2-0, 1962' 5 Sheets-Sheet 1INVENTOR.

S, EARL P MAIDMENI i QM fw ATTORNEY J1me 1964 E. P. MAIDMENT DOCUMENTSTACKING DEVICE 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed NOV. 20, 1962 Fig.2.

INVENTOR EARL f. MA/DMENI flaw ATTORNEY.

J1me 1964 E. P. MAIDMENT DOCUMENT STACKING DEVICE 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 FiledNOV. 20, 1962 INVENTOR. EARL P MA/DMENI M ATTORNEY June 16, 1964 E. P.MAIDMENT DOCUMENT STACKING DEVICE 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed NOV. 20, 1962EARL P MA/DMENI AT TORNEX J1me 1954 E. P. MAIDMENT DOCUMENT STACKINGDEVICE 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Nov. 20, 1962 INVENTOR. EARL I? MA mmATTORNEY.

United States, Patent D 3,137,499 DOCUMENT STACKING DEVICE Earl P.Maidment, Royal Oak, Mich, assignor to Burroughs Corporation, Detroit,Mich, a corporation of Michigan Filed Nov. 20, 1962, Ser. No. 238,976 7Claims. (ill. 271-71) This invention relates generally to sheettransporting apparatus and particularly to a sheet stacking devicetherefor.

It is an object of the invention to provide an improved sheet stackingdevice in which the top of the stack remains at a predeterminedsubstantially constant level without need of the usual stack positioningmechanism and controls therefor.

Another object of the invention is to provide for a sheet handlingapparatus having a sheet raceway from which sheets are ejected singly,an improved sheet stacking device including a sheet receiving bin of astructural character to maintain the uppermost sheet of the stack at apredetermined desired height with respect to the path of travel of theejected sheets.

Another object of the invention is to provide for a sheet handlingapparatus having a sheet raceway from which sheets are ejected singly,an improved sheet stacking device including a sheet receiving bin of astructural character to effect incremental descent of the stack inresponse to the increasing weight of accumulating sheets so as tomaintain proper relationship between the top of th stack and the path oftravel of the ejected sheets.

Another object of the invention is to provide for a sheet handlingapparatus having a sheet raceway along which sheets travel singly onedge to a sheet ejecting point, an improved guide member at the sheetejection point to change the direction of sheet travel and at the sametime change the attitude of the sheet to direct the sheet fiat onto thetop of the stack.

Another object of the invention is to provide a sheet stacking device ofthe above mentioned character having provisions for directing the sheetsdownwardly, flat against thetop of the stack and at the same time causeair between sheets to be expelled.

Another object of the invention is to slightly crease and thus rigidifyeach sheet just prior to its being fed into the bin.

A further object of the invention resides in the arrangement of the binat a compound angularity to utilize gravity in neatly stacking thesheets with their side and end edges abutting respectively one side andadjacent end of the bin.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent from the followingdetail description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary plan view of a sheet or check sorting machineembodying my improved check stacking device;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view of one of a number of checkstacking devices of the machine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view, taken along the line FIG. 9 is a viewof a blank for making a part of the document guideway.

Referring to the drawings by characters of reference and first to FIG.1, the invention is illustrated in connection with a sheet or checksorting apparatus comprising, in general, an elongated supporting memberor bed 20, a check guide or raceway 22, and a plurality of checkstacking devices 24. The raceway 22 and the check stacking devices 24are mounted on the bed, the raceway extending longitudinally of and nearthe rear of the bed and the check stacking devices laterally positionedforwardly of the raceway in spaced apart relationship along the front ofthe bed. A feed belt 26, or other suitable feed means, may be providedto feed checks, as at 27, along the raceway 24 at high velocity and bearranged to feed the checks on edge or in upright attitude. The raceway22 is provided with a plurality of outlets 28 for the ejection of checksfrom the raceway respectively to the stacking devices 24, the racewayhaving at each of the outlets 28 a pair of check feed rollers 32.

Check sorting apparatus of the type shown usually have associated withthe raceway 22 a number of check deflector members respectively for theoutlets 28 and selectively operating means therefor which are not shownor described herein as they form no part of the present invention. For acomplete understanding of one type of check sorter having checkdeflectors and control system therefor, reference may be had to thecopending application of Harold M. Frederick, of common assignee, S.N.857,960, filed December 7, 1959, now Patent No. 3,067,- 886.

In the present construction, the bed 20 is a two level bed comprising alower plate 34 at the rear of the structure and an upper plate 36 at thefront of the structure. As shown, the bed plates 34 and 36 are disposedin parallel planes which are inclined downwardly from the back to thefront of the structure for the purpose of inducing sheets to stackneatly in the stacking devices 24, as will be hereinafter more clearlyunderstood. The angle of inclination of the bed plates 34, 36 may beabout 20.

Since the check stacking devices 24 are alike, as will be apparent fromthe drawings, the following detail description is limited to one of themfor convenience and to avoid unnecessary repititious description. Thecheck stacking device 24 includes a box-like bin 38 having side walls 40and 42, end walls 44 and 46 and a bottom wall 48. The bin 38 is receivedin a clearance opening 50 in the bed plate 36 and is suspended below theplate, as shown for example, in FIG. 2, by out-turned side flanges 52which seat on and are secured to the bed plate, such as by screws 53. Asshown, the bin 38 is arranged with its end wall 44 at the offset betweenbed plates 34 and 36 in a plane parallel to the plane of travel of thechecks in the raceway 22 and beyond, or to the right of the racewaycheck outlet 28.

In order to conduct, checks from the raceway outlet 28 to the checkstack bin 38 such that the checks will stack flat in the bin, I providea check guide member 54 having a particular check guiding surfacecontour which changes the direction of travel of the check about todivert it toward the bin and at the same time changes the attitude ofthe check about 90 so that the check is directed over the bin end wall44 in a plane substantially parallel to the bin top. Thus the guidemember may be termed a check diverter-attitude changer. The guide member54 may be made of any suitable smooth surface sheet material, such aspolished sheet steel, and is formed having a rounded or curved portion56 and fiat portions or legs 58 and 59 tangential to the curved portion.In the forming of the guide member 54, it is critical that leg 58positions in the upright plane of the raceway 22 and the leg 59 in aplane above and parallel to the plane of the top of bin 38. The edge, asat 60, of the leg 58 may be butt welded, or be otherwise suitablysecured to the end of the outer rail of raceway 22 to support the guidemember 54.

The guide member 54 may be made by first developing and forming a blank,as shown in FIG. 9, which may be in the shape of a trapezium althoughthe shape is not critical. Edge 60 of the blank and edge 61 can besquare, or form a right angle, and substantially from the corner of theright angle diagonally to substantially the opposite corner of theblank, a dot and dash line 62 represents the axis of curvature of therounded portion 56 of the guide member 54. The blank is bent over a formwhich preferably provides a curvature of uniform radius along line 62although, if desired, the curvature may be progressive, as a conicalsurface. In either case, the legs 58 and 59 are bent to the properangles that will relatively position them such that leg 58 will alignwith the end of the raceway 22 and leg 59 will lie in a plane parallelto and above the plane of the bin top with edge 63 disposed toward thebin.

interposed between the end 63 of the check guide member 54 and the binend wall 44 there is a check feed device comprising a pair of loweraxially spaced driven rollers 66, and a pair of upper axially spacedpressure rollers 68. The driven rollers 66 are aifixed to a rotatableshaft 70 journaled in the opposite sides of a U-shaped bracket 64 andthe pressure rollers 68 are rotatable on a fixed shaft 72 affixed to theopposite sides of the bracket. The driven rollers 66 and the pressurerollers 68 form a bight adjacent the edge 63 of the check guide member54. These rollers feed the checks into the bin 38 over the bin end wall44. Between the rollers 66 is an arm 74 having an upper end pivoted onshaft '72 and a lower end carrying a check creasing roller 76. A torsionspring 78 biases the arm 74 in a clockwise direction, facing FIG. 4 topress a check downwardly against a form plate 80, the purpose being toslightly crease the checks to give them added rigidity.

Intermediate the feed rollers 32 and the feed rollers 66, 68, there ispreferably provided an additional pair of feed rollers 82. The feedrollers 82 are positioned respectively on opposite sides of the checkguide member 54 and are mounted on upright shafts 84 which in turn arerigidly mounted on the bed plate 36, the rollers being in engagementthrough a clearance aperture 86 in guide member 54.

Further in accordance with the invention, the bottom wall 48 of thecheck stacking bin 38 is spring suspended from the bin proper fordownward incremental movement under the increasing weight ofaccumulating checks, the purpose being to maintain the top of the checkstack at a desired predetermined level below the feed rollers 66, 68. Tothis end, the bottom wall 48 of the bin is rigidly secured, such as bywelding, to the upper ends of four rods 88, located within the bin atthe four corners respectively of the bottom wall. Extending downwardlyfrom the bottom wall 48 the rods 88 are respectively slidably guidedaxially in guide members 90, which may be welded to the bin side walls40 and 42, adjacent the lower edges thereof. Extending downwardly belowthe bin 38, the rods 88 have anchor members 90 rigidly securedrespectively to the lower ends thereof. To each of the anchor members isanchored the end of a light helical coil spring 92. The upper ends ofthe springs 92 are anchored to brackets 94 which are secured to the binside walls 43 and 42 near the corners of the bin. It will thus be seenthat the springs 92 are placed under increasing tension by theincreasing weight of the stack, the light springs yielding to maintainthe top of the stack at a substantially constant level.

Spanning the sides 40, 42 of the bin adjacent the bin end Wall 44 thereis a U-shaped bracket 96, secured to the bin flanges 52. Secured to theunderside of the web of the bracket 6 there is a supporting block 98preferably of plastic material, and securely set in the block are endportions of a plurality of metal spring fingers 100. The spring fingers100 extend from the block in the direction of sheet travel and curvedownwardly to rounded ends 102 which bear against the upper sheet of thestack. These spring fingers guide a check downwardly to the topof thestack and in addition thereto function to press the top check downwardlyto expel the air from between the checks.

As previously mentioned, the bin 38 is mounted on a compound angle tothe horizontal so that the checks will tend by gravity to stack neatlyagainst the bin end wall 46 and bin side wall 42. To relieve thetendency of the bottom wall 48 to bind, as a consequence of the compoundangularity of the bin 38, I provide a pair of friction reducing rollers104 on bottom wall 48 to engage bin side Wall 42 and a single roller 106on bottom wall 48 7 to engage the lower end Wall 46.

Operation In operation, a check 27 is propelled at high velocity onedge, or in an upright attitude along the raceway 22 by the feed belt 26which feeds the check to the bight of the feed rollers 32 at the outlet28 of the raceway 22. Proceeding from the feed rollers 32, the checkthen traverses the inner surface of the check guide member 54 and thecheck is guided thereby to turn at about 90 to the raceway 22 toward thebin 38 and at the same time to change attitude by about 90 so as todeliver the check for stacking flat in the bin. As the check traversesthe surface of the guide member 54, the feed rollers 82 aid in keepingthe check on course following which the lead edge of the check is fedinto the bight of feed rollers 66, 68. At this point, the check is feddownwardly against the forming plate 80 and under the pressure of roller76, the check is slightly creased to increase its rigidity. The check isthen guided by the forming plate 86 into the bin 38, over the bin endWall 44. As the check proceeds into the bin the check leading edgeengages the spring fingers which yieldingly forces the check downwardlyagainst the top of the stack to dispel air from between the checks 27 sothat only the weight of the checks will be applied to the light springs92 that support the descendable bottom wall 48 of the bin. Consequently,as the weight of the stack increases with the accumulation of checks inthe bin, the stack descends with the bottom Wall, thus the top of thestack is maintained at a predetermined substantially constant levelbelow the path of travel of the checks into the bin.

While I have shown and described my sheet stacking device inconsiderable detail, it will be understood that many variations andchanges may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scopeof the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a sheet handling apparatus, a sheet guideway along which sheetsare transported on edge in an upright attitude and having an outlet, asheet stack supporting member laterally positioned from said guideway inlaterally spaced relation to the sheet outlet, and a sheet guide memberbetween said outlet and said supporting member and curved to change theattitude of the check from the said upright attitude to an attitudetransversely to the plane of said upright attitude and at the same timechanging the direction of the sheet travel laterally of said guidewaytoward said sheet stack supporting memher.

2. In a sheet handling apparatus, means defining a vertical sheetguideway along which a sheet is transported on edge in an uprightattitude, said guideway having an open end for ejection of a sheet, asheet stack supporting member positioned laterally of the said end ofthe guideway, a pair of feed rollers between said guideway and saidsheet stack supporting member and operable to feed a sheet fiat onto thelatter, rollers having a bight in a plane transverse to said guideway,and a curved guide member having one end in horizontal registry with thebight of said feed rollers to change the direction of travel toward saidsheet supporting member and at the same time change the sheet attitude.

3. In a sheet handling apparatus, a linearly extending sheet guidewaydefining a vertical path of travel along which a sheet is transported onedge in an upright attitude and discharged from one end of the guideway,a first pair of feed rollers at the one end of said guideway having avertically disposed bight, a sheet stack supporting member positionedlaterally of the one end of said guideway for the fiat stacking ofsheets thereon, a second pair of sheet feeding rollers between saidguideway and said sheet stack supporting member, said second feedrollers having a bight above the top of said sheet stack supportingmember in a plane transverse to the plane of the vertical path of travelof a sheet along said guideway, and a curved sheet attitude anddirection changing guide member having one end vertically disposed inregistry with the bight of said first pair of rollers and the oppositeend in registry with the bight of said second pair of rollers.

4. In a sheet handling apparatus, a linearly extending guideway defininga vertical path of sheet travel along which a sheet is transported onedge in an upright attitude and discharged from an outlet of theguideway, a first pair of sheet feed rollers disposed at the said outletof said guideway having a substantially vertically disposed big'nt, asheet stack supporting member spaced from and positioned laterally ofsaid guideway, a second pair of sheet feed rollers between said sheetstack supporting member and said first pair of rollers, and having a biht in a plane transverse to the plane of the path of sheet traveldefined by said guideway, a curved guide member having one upright edgeadjacent and in registry with the bight of said first pair of sheet feedrollers and an opposite edge adjacent and in registry with the bight ofsaid second pair of sheet feed rollers, said curved guide member havinga twisting sheet engaging contour to change both the direction of sheettravel and attitude of a sheet between said first and second pairs ofrollers to direct a sheet into position for horizontal stacking on saidsheet stack supporting member, and a third pair of sheet feed rollersbetween said opposite edges of said curved guide member to overcome thebraking affect of the latter as the sheet is forced to change itsdirection of travel and attitude.

5. In a sheet handling apparatus, a linearly extending guideway defininga vertical path of sheet travel along which a sheet is transported onedge in an upright attitude and discharged from a sheet outlet, a firstpair of sheet feed rollers at the said outlet of said guideway andhaving a substantially vertically disposed bight, a sheet stacking binspaced from and extending laterally of said guideway, a second pair ofsheet feed rollers between said first pair of rollers and said bin andhaving a bight in a plane transverse to the vertical path of sheettravel defined by said guideway, a curved guide plate having one uprightedge adjacent and in registry with the bight of said first pair of sheetfeed rollers and an opposite edge adjacent and in registry with thebight of said second pair of sheet feed rollers, said curved guide plateoperable to change both the direction of travel and attitude of a sheetbetween said first and second pairs of rollers to direct a sheet intoposition for horizontal stacking in the bin, and a plurality of sheetdeflecting fingers overlying said bin in the path of sheet travel fromsaid second pair of sheet feed rollers and having free ends extendingdownwardly into the bin.

6. In a sheet handling apparatus, a linearly extending guideway defininga vertical path of sheet travel along which a sheet is transported onedge in an upright attitude and discharged from a sheet outlet, a firstpair of sheet feed rollers disposed at the said one end of said guidewayhaving a substantially vertically disposed bight, a sheet stacking binspaced from and extending laterally of said guideway, a second pair ofsheet feed rollers adjacent said bin between the latter and said firstpair of rollers and having a bight in a plane transverse to the verticalplane of the path of sheet travel of said guideway, a curved guide platehaving one upright edge adjacent and in registry with the bight of saidfirst pair of sheet feed rollers and an opposite edge adjacent and inregistry with the bight of said second pair of sheet feed rollers, saidcurved guide plate changing both the direction of travel and attitude ofa sheet between said first and second pairs of rollers to direct a sheetinto position for horizontal stacking in the bin, at V-shape plate belowone of the rollers of said second pair of rollers and extending towardsaid bin, and a roller cooperable with said plate to crease and rigiditythe sheet prior to flight of the sheet into said bin.

7. In a sheet handling apparatus, a linearly extending guideway defininga vertical path along which a sheet is transported horizontally on edgein an upright attitude and discharged from a guideway outlet, a firstpair of sheet feed rollers disposed at the outlet of said guidewayhaving a substantially vertically disposed bight, a sheet stacking binspaced from and extending laterally of said guideway, a second pair ofsheet feed rollers adjacent the said bin between said bin and said firstpair of rollers and having a bight above said bin in a plane transverseto the plane of the path defined by said guideway, a curved guide platehaving one upright edge adjacent and in registry with the bight of saidfirst pair of sheet feed rollers and an opposite edge adjacent and inregistry with the bight of said second pair of sheet feed rollers, saidcurved guide plate changing both the direction of travel and attitude ofa sheet between said first and second pairs of rollers to direct a sheetinto position for horizontal stacking in the bin, a plurality of sheetdeflecting spring fingers overlying said bin in the path of sheet travelfrom said second pair of sheet feed rollers and having free endsextending downwardly into the bin, a V-shape plate below one of therollers of said second pair of rollers and extending toward said bin toguide a sheet to the bin, a roller cooperable with said V-shaped plateto crease and rigidify the sheet prior to flight of the sheet into saidbin, and a third pair of sheet feeding rollers between said first andsecond pairs of rollers to overcome the friction between a sheet andsaid curved plate developed by the change in direction and attitude of asheet.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS381,126 Graham Apr. 17, 1888 867,684 Thomas Oct. 8, 1907 2,181,995 KeilDec. 5, 1939 2,770,192 Mitchell et al. Nov. 13 1956 3,034,427 OstwaldMay 15, 1962 3,052,467 Fertig Sept. 4, 1962 3,062,537 Hanstein et a1.Nov. 6 1962 3,079,151 Maidment Feb. 26, 1963

1. IN A SHEET HANDLING APPARATUS, A SHEET GUIDEWAY ALONG WHICH SHEETSARE TRANSPORTED ON EDGE IN AN UPRIGHT ATTITUDE AND HAVING AN OUTLET, ASHEET STACK SUPPORTING MEMBER LATERALLY POSITIONED FROM SAID GUIDEWAY INLATERALLY SPACED RELATION TO THE SHEET OUTLET, AND A SHEET GUIDE MEMBERBETWEEN SAID OUTLET AND SAID SUPPORTING MEMBER AND CURVED TO CHANGE THEATTITUDE OF THE CHECK FROM THE SAID UPRIGHT ATTITUDE TO AN ATTITUDETRANSVERSELY TO THE PLANE OF SAID UPRIGHT ATTITUDE AND AT THE SAME TIMECHANGING THE DIRECTION OF THE SHEET TRAVEL LATERALLY OF SAID GUIDEWAYTOWARD SAID SHEET STACK SUPPORTING MEMBER.